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EuroBerry Module

Hardware Project, 2024

This documents my efforts to bring a RaspberryPi computer (using external power) in a Eurorack panel. This is based around my raspberryPi for ORCA project and extends this idea.

Table of Contents

1. Setup 1.1 Hardware 1.2 USB to TRS-A Midi Mod 1.3 RaspberryPi OS
2. Recommended Software
3. Part List & BOM
4. Examples & Videos

Setup

Hardware

You can find the Bill of Materials at the bottom of this page. If you’re only interested in using a RaspberryPi to send Midi signals you can skip the Hardware section and use your own configuration.

Prototype panel made from 2mm hard foam.

USB to TRS-A Midi Mod

To move the USB to Midi device to the back of the panel, I modded soldered a 3,5mm TRS socket to the board of the device. The recommended OTraki device is perfect for this mod. The board inside the plastic shell has large output pads, which are even labeled. (Note: If you have much space in your eurorack case, you can also just plug in the adaptor and hide the long Midi cable inside the case. To each their own.)

The following is a step-by-step guide to performing the mod.

• 01 Remove the case: The welded plastic housing can be easily opened with a cutter knife.
• 02 Desolder the cable: The cable is soldered onto the PCB with regular solder that is easy to undo. I reccomend to heat one pad after another while gently pully on the respective wire.
• 03 Clean the pads: Make sure no solder bridges where created in the previous step. Each of the pads should look clean.

 O-  Sink    Tip  
 O+  Source  Ring 
  G  Shield  Sleve
in+               
in-               

DAs muss doch bestimmt in nem P tag stehen

RaspberryPi OS

1. Download and etch Raspian OS to the SD card
2. Use the new ‘Raspberry Pi Imager’ to download and mount an operating system to the Pi. I decided to go full Command line and only installed the lite version (this is also called headless installation). If this is all too nerdy for you, make sure to download the full version with Desktop.
3. If you go with the limited version. write a file called ssh on the root of the Pi before putting the card inside the Raspberry Pi. This will enable you to connect to the Device over network with SSH.
4. You can setup wifi on the SD card, too. There are a lot of instructions available.
5. Either plug in a standard display or use a small display case for full effect. These small displays often come with some caveats. The one I described earlier turned out to be great value for such a cheap module, but will only work in single display setups.
6. Some displays will ship with drivers, some without. Others will only support some of the operation systems that can run on raspberry pi. But for what we do most should work.
7. Optional: Connect a Keyboard via bluetooth. It’s a little rough when working in the console but if you follow these steps with patience it’s possible to connect a bt keyboard for less cables.I found this guide to be reliable and straight forward

Recommended Software

ORCΛ-C a C-fork of ORCΛ esoteric programming language. For creating generative Midi or OSC signals.

HIDI a flexible HID to Midi translation layer for using keyboards and game controllers for musical purposes.

midiTracker my own Midi arrangement tool in the style of older Music Trackers which is exactly made to fit this device.

krait a free running Midi looper with a minimal interface and a very fun way to create drones, phase music and other unconventional arrangements

Part List / BOM

1×	PCB panel
1×	Raspberry Pi 3b or newer
1×	Raspberry Pi USB power
1×	Waveshare 4" IPS display
1×	Panel mount USB jacks
1×	Panel mount USB C extension
3×	USB plugs with solder leads
1×	USB jack with solder leads
1×	USB 2 Midi
3x	Thonkiconn Stereo WQP419GR or PJ3410 Stereo
.

Examples & Videos

TBD

Tags: #Modular-Synthesizer